


guess love is a response of the body it haunts

by steepedinwords



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic, Sleepy Cuddles, the boys are only sometimes solid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:34:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26673733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steepedinwords/pseuds/steepedinwords
Summary: Julie has a rough day. The boys take care of her.(feat. cuddle piles and a lot of fluff)
Relationships: Alex & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, if you squint
Comments: 84
Kudos: 839





	guess love is a response of the body it haunts

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "Muscle Memory" by Lights. (Am I going to name all my JATP fics after Lights lyrics? Probably, I'm on a Lights kick lately.)
> 
> The 'boys are only solid sometimes' idea is one I owe to DarknessChill - you should check out their JATP fic because it's awesome.
> 
> Content warning for mild descriptions of menstrual cramps - nothing gory.
> 
> Edited a line slightly to make it more inclusive.
> 
> 10/8/2020 - Edited to add a line about Julie's glasses, because I don't wear glasses so I totally forgot you'd have to take them or contacts out before sleeping! Oops.

She forgot her freaking Advil at home. Of course.

Julie’s spent the last half-hour at school trying to ignore the growing ache in her abdomen, but toughing it out isn’t going to work. It never does. She manages to keep her voice from trembling too much when she asks to be excused, but all she wants to do is put her head down on her desk and cry. But Flynn’s away today, and Dad’s at work, and the only way she’s going to feel better is if she does something about it herself. 

The nurse takes one look at Julie’s face, brow furrowed in pain, and tells her to go home, in the kind of voice that’s so full of sympathy that Julie nearly breaks down in tears on the spot. She takes a city bus home, hunched over her backpack in a little pile of misery, and gets off it in a haze of pain, because she forgot to ask the nurse if he had any ibuprofen she could take. The afternoon sun is hot on her shoulders through her sweater, but somehow she’s still cold.

The boys are outside of the studio shooting hoops, but the pain is getting worse, her insides twisting into knots, and Julie can’t spare the energy to worry about whether the neighbours are home to notice a basketball moving on its own. Luke is the first to notice her stumbling up the walk and waves to her, a big grin splitting his face before he notices her expression and appears beside her, eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Julie! You’re home early, are you okay?”

“Not really,” she whispers. Someone takes her backpack, probably Reggie. She feels Luke’s hand on her shoulder, decides he’s solid enough right now, and leans into him a little. “Just feeling sick. Um. Stomach cramps.”

All three of the boys turn pale, and Luke steadies Julie, an expression of intense worry settling over his face. “Stomach cramps? A-are you okay? Did you eat something bad?”

“Do you need to go to a hospital?” Alex cuts in, his voice sharp with worry too, and Julie thinks oh, of course. Food poisoning is a very recent bad memory for her boys, still. “No, no.” She flaps a hand a little, winces at another twinge. “Uh. It’s just regular cramps.”

“Yeah, you said.” Luke’s eyes are still wide with worry. “Did you call your dad?”

“Not from something I ate,” she says, trying not to laugh. _Boys._ “It’s just the kind of cramps I get every month?”

Reggie and Luke still look bewildered, but understanding dawns on Alex’s face; he relaxes a little bit, and Julie remembers that he used to have a sister. “Oh. _Oh._ ”

“Yeah. So I just need to lie down for a while, and take something, and I’ll be fine tomorrow.” She leans into Luke’s arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry, guys.” A spasm shoots through her again, making her curl over in pain. “Ow.” She tries to relax the death grip she’s got on Luke’s hand. “This is normal, okay? It’s just a thing my body does.” 

Honestly, she just wanted to go to bed, not explain things. They’re taking the hint, thankfully. Alex shoos Reggie ahead of them, opening the door, and Luke lets Julie keep his hand in hers as they go inside and upstairs to her room. He’s still looking a bit confused. Julie lets go of him at her door and manages a watery little smile. “Thanks.”

“Can we get you anything?” Reggie asks. “Alex said this is, like, a girl thing, but you said you can take something?”

"Not just a girl thing," Julie says, "other people can have this too - but yeah. Advil, and some water?”

“Sure thing, boss,” Reggie says and disappears. Julie sits down on her bed, exhausted. Luke’s still hovering, and Alex has sat down at the top of the stairs. “I’m just gonna put on some pajamas and go to bed.”

Luke glances between her and Alex, who motions him over. “Okay?” He still looks uncertain. Julie takes his hands impulsively - yeah, still solid. She wishes she felt less half-dead so that she could enjoy it more. “I’ll be done in a minute. I’m just gonna watch Netflix probably, so if you guys want to hang out… it’s nice to have company.” She grits her teeth as another cramp hits. Luke leaves the room, casting a worried look over his shoulder before closing the door, and Julie pulls on pajamas and crawls into bed. It feels a bit like heaven, cool sheets soothing against her arms and hot face. She curls up around the agony that is her midsection and tries not to cry. There’s whispering in the hallway, presumably Alex taking it upon himself to educate Luke and Reggie about what’s going on. That’s a relief. Julie’s not embarrassed about it, just doesn’t have the energy to help them with their feelings right now. She’s got enough of her own to deal with.

There’s a knock at the door. “Julie?” Alex says quietly. “Can we come in?”

“Yeah,” she manages. Her eyes are shut tight against another spasm, but she hears the rattle of a pill bottle and looks up. Reggie’s holding out the bottle of Advil in one hand and a glass of water in the other, wearing an expression of intense focus as he tries not to drop the glass. Alex hands her a hot water bottle he must have found in the bathroom, and Julie tucks it under the covers with her with a sigh. “Thank you guys.”

Luke’s hanging back by the door, still looking anxious, and when the other step back, he appears by Julie’s bed, kneeling next to her. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I mean.” Julie throws back two Advil capsules and lies down again. “It feels like being stabbed in the stomach, but nothing new there.” She’s so tired, and her hands are cold despite the hot water bottle and her comforter.

“Really? That can’t be normal.” Luke sounds horrified, and Julie grins tiredly. 

“Welcome to biology, dude.” She snuggles down against her pillow, then glances up at her boys, still standing around protectively, and a bit awkwardly. “Do you guys want to watch a movie with me?”

They end up in a cuddle pile on her bed, Julie with her head pillowed on Reggie’s knee and Luke’s fingers tangled in hers, Alex’s hand rubbing her shoulder gently. They’ve dragged in every spare blanket they could find after noticing that she’s cold, and it’s helping. She drifts. The laptop glows with a title screen, but she’s too exhausted to keep her eyes open and she doesn't have her glasses on anyway, and the Advil is finally kicking in. Julie feels herself relaxing, inch by inch, until she falls asleep to the sound of _The Great British Baking Show_ and the boys’ whispered conversations above her.

They’re all still with her when Julie wakes up a while later to a knock on her door. It’s getting dark outside; Alex is out cold and snoring. Julie mumbles a “Come in,” and struggles to sit up so it doesn’t look like she’s lying propped up on nothing. She’s surrounded by her ghost boys, but her dad looks right past them at Julie, obviously unable to see them. “Hey, mija. I heard you had to go home sick. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to take care of you.”

Julie smiles sleepily up at Luke, Alex, and Reggie, then at her dad. “That’s okay, papi. I just napped anyway.”

Her dad crosses the room to her side, reaches _through_ Luke to tuck the covers in around Julie. Luke and Reggie hold their breath; Alex is still snoring obliviously next to them. Luke reaches over and pokes him, and the snoring stops abruptly. Julie holds back a giggle.

“Feeling any better?” her dad asks.

“A little.”

“Want me to make you some hot chocolate?”

Julie thinks about it. “With real chocolate?”

“Absolutely, honey,” he says, and Julie grins up at him sleepily. “Yes please.”

“I love you,” he says, and Julie murmurs back, “Yeah, love you too.”

The door closes. There’s a shift around her on the bed; the weight of the laptop disappears from her legs as Reggie carefully puts it on the floor. He and Alex say goodbye and leave the room. Luke’s still there; Julie can feel his flannel shirt under her fingers, his still-tangible weight beside her, and she wraps her fingers around his wrist. “Stay with me?”

She’s sliding back down into sleep and doesn’t hear his response, but she knows he doesn’t leave. Julie cuddles up next to him, face pressed against his leg, and falls asleep again to his fingers in her hair, and when she wakes up, Luke is still there. The pain is gone, she can hear Carlos calling to Dad outside in the yard, and there’s a still-warm cup of hot chocolate on her bedside table.

It’s hard some days, but it’s easier when she has so much love around her.

**Author's Note:**

> I should probably start linking my tumblr on here I guess? it's greenestcoat if anyone wants.


End file.
